It’s been a little hectic with my English Speech Practice State exam so I have fallen a bit behind with my posts here. I was going to write about what it is like to pass a state exam in a Kazakhstani university but am so exhausted from all the dacha work at the moment that would better leave it until better times which would hopefully happen tomorrow or on Monday. For those of your unaware of the term “dacha”—it’s a little, usually wooden house, located on the outskirts of the city that pretty much every retired person has. They call it a resort or a resting place where they spend at least 5 days a week working like crazies in their gardens, planting, watering, weeding and so on and so on many many many more times.
My seventy four year old grandma, my parents and I have just returned from a very exciting trip to this ‘resting place’. After 12 hours of watering and weeding in the 40 degrees Celsius right now I’m enjoying the look of my ‘there-used-to-be-a-manicure-once’ hands, my sunburned shoulders and oh ,well at least this is good news—my decently tanned legs.
You have probably guessed correctly about the stylistic device I am using here (I’ve aced my exam, see?)—IRONY…I hate to be ironical, but then I am just really not a big fan of all this dacha rest thing. Of course there are good moments such smelling all the beautiful flowers, admiring sunsets and creating your won miniature rainbows in the millions of splashes but I can’t think of them at the moment.
Don’t forget your sun block lotion!